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Subject: BFP: Israel in the News
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 1998 15:27:11 -0800
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From: (Clarence Wagner) Bridges for Peace
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: News from Israel
News from Israel
Week Ending: November 20, 1998
1) ARAFAT THREATENS VIOLENCE, STATE
2) ANTI-SEMITISM FROM THE PA SINCE WYE
3) ARAFAT ASKED HAMAS FOR 3-MONTH TERRORISM HIATUS
4) ARAFAT: PNC WILLVOTE ON CHARTER
5) ANTI-SEMITISM ON RISE IN RUSSIA
1) ARAFAT THREATENS VIOLENCE, STATE
Two aggressive declarations made by Yasser Arafat this week have
angered Israel. "Our guns are ready to defend the rights of Palestinians
in [eastern] Jerusalem, as the future capital of a Palestinian state," said
Arafat at a Fatah gathering in Ramallah on November 15th. "Our guns are
ready, and we are ready to use them against whoever would prevent us from
praying in Jerusalem." Speaking in Shechem on November 14, Arafat
threatened to declare an independent state next May: "We will declare our
independent state on May 4, 1999 with Jerusalem as its capital, yes
Jerusalem, the eternal capital of our state, whether they like it or not.
Now we are on our land and we are regaining this Holy Land inch by inch
until we set up our state in 1999."
Prime Minister Netanyahu said again in response that if Arafat
unilaterally declares the establishment of a Palestinian state without
negotiating the matter with Israel, Israel will then feel free to protect
its national interests by taking unilateral measures of its own, including
the extension of Israeli law over areas in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza under
its control. (Med, Arutz 7, November 15, 1998)
2) ANTI-SEMITISM FROM THE PA SINCE WYE
Two bitingly anti-Semitic articles appeared in the Palestinian media
during the days immediately following the Wye Accord, in which the PA
agreed to abstain from incitement to hatred. The first was an opinion
article in the Palestinian Authority newspaper, which contained statements
so vicious they remind one of the "Protocols of the Learned Elders of
Zion." Examples of statements include:
* "Corruption is in the nature of the Jews all over the world, to the
point that only rarely do you find corruption that the Jews are not behind
or the cause."
* "The Jews were exposed to oppression and expulsion worldwide,
because of their ugly deeds and their wickedness [which] caused people to
start wars of extermination against them."
* "Their intense love of money and its accumulation is common
knowledge, and the way they get it does not interest them and they are
liable to exercise degradation and the most lowly of methods in order to
achieve their goals, as long as the people involved are not Jewish."
The second media violation of the Wye Accords occurred on a program on
PA television on the topic of the Jews. Statements of incitement included:
* "The Jews have no pure race, what we now call Jews or Israelis or
Zionists...from where is this mixture? This people have gone through much
dispersion. During the dispersion, it was natural that members of other
religions would follow them [for example] the Khazars - millions turned
Jewish overnight. Should we make a calculation of the original Jews or
Children of Israel today, it would be like a dot in the sea." Therefore,
Judaism cannot be a sign of nationality."
* "From the beginning Judaism, which stemmed from the religion of
Moses, was the origin of the Religion of the Sons of Judah. I note that the
Religion of Moses is a religion, apparently it is the Islamic religion, and
some researches that were published find that the Torah, when translated
correctly, shows that it is a continuation of Islam." (Editorial: The Torah
- first five books of the Old Testament - were written 2,000 years before
Islam arose as a religion.)
* "We know today that there are two communities that hold by the
ancient customs, the Samaritans of Nablus, who say: we are the legal
inheritors of the first Israeli dynasty and they most probably are right.
And there is a group in Jerusalem that is called Neturei Karta, meaning
Guardians of the City, and these do not believe in Israel and believe that
the Kingdom of Israel is spiritually religious and not relating to the
land." (Imra, November 12,1998)
3) ARAFAT ASKED HAMAS FOR 3-MONTH TERRORISM HIATUS
Arafat had asked Hamas not to carry out terrorist attacks for the next
three months, i.e., until after Israel completes its withdrawal from 27% of
Judea and Samaria. This has been confirmed by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen.
Sha'ul Mofaz. Mofax appeared before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee, along with a senior Israeli intelligence official. He also
confirmed that Arafat's now-famous "guns" speech of two days ago, in which
he said that the Palestinians' guns are ready to shoot to protect their
rights in Jerusalem, also referred to the agreement made - and abrogated -
by Mohammed in the last millennium.
In response to Arafat's request, Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin
refused to commit to call publicly for an end of terrorism. In a meeting
between the two, Yassin told Arafat that he was willing to tell his people
to cease carrying out terror attacks, but that he had no control over the
Hamas leadership outside of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.
According to a report of the conversation received by the General
Security Service (GSS/Shin Bet), Arafat said to Yassin, "If you would call for
cessation of terror attacks, they would listen to you," to which Yassin
replied, "I can't do that." Yassin also said, "If I were to make such a
call and tomorrow we would need to take up arms again, what would I say to
them? To make a public call through the media is as if I'm giving up the
armed struggle, and that I'm not prepared to do." (Arutz 7, IsraelWire,
November 17 - 19, 1998)
4) ARAFAT: PNC WILL VOTE ON CHARTER
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said ON November 12th that the PNC
would be prepared to vote on the Palestinian charter, to remove clauses
calling for Israel's destruction.
He said he was not afraid that he couldn't get a majority in the PNC,
which includes members of groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, who are
opposed to the peace process.
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu welcomed the statement and
said he would be satisfied with a majority vote by the PNC. The PNC in 1996
previously required a 2/3rds majority to instruct a committee of lawyers to
draft a new charter, but a new charter was never produced.
It was this confusion which led to the current situation in which
Yasser Arafat claims the charter has been canceled, while groups opposed to
the peace process, and many of Mr. Arafat's own aides, claim the charter
still holds.
Yasser Arafat's statement also contradicted earlier comments by the
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat who said there would be no vote,
and that all the PNC would do would be to listen to President Clinton make
a speech. (MED, November 13, 1998)
5) ANTI-SEMITISM ON RISE IN RUSSIA
"We must get rid of the Jews from the government and press because the
Jews are blood suckers." So said General Makashov, a senior Communist party
member in the Russian Parliament during a leftist rally. Similar calls are
repeatedly being heard in communist party demonstrations, but particularly
disturbing was Makashov's use of an especially derogatory reference to
Jews.
Political figures from the right quickly condemned the remarks while
leftist political figures defended Makashov and claimed he was being
unjustly attacked. An attempt to remove his Parliamentary immunity so that
he can be tried for incitement failed. At another communist demonstration
he threatened to "kill the Jews based on a prepared list." After these
comments, President Yeltsin ordered the state attorney to consider how
Makashov can be stopped, but unless his Parliamentary immunity is revoked,
there is little that can be done.
Communist Party leader Ziaganov tried to defuse the issue by saying
they were "not anti-Semites - but internationalists" This did not go very
far with the Russian press who quoted Ziaganov as saying they were "not
anti-Semites - but international anti-Semites." While anti-Semitism within
the Communist party is not new, the Israeli Consulate in Russia has
reported that the lines of Russian Jews inquiring about emigration to
Israel has recently become much longer.
A recent US News & World Report article compared the current state of
Russia with that of pre-World War II Germany. As with Hindenburg in
Germany, President Yeltzin is old and viewed as weak. In addition, as was
the case with Germany, Russia is a country, which quickly fell from a
position of importance in the world, to a country plagued with high
inflation, and a currency, which is quickly losing its value. And as with
Germany, a leftist, nationalist opposition is trying to gain political
control. (YEDIOT ACHRONOT, November 19, 1998)
***********************************************************************
From: (Clarence Wagner) Bridges for Peace
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: News from Israel
News from Israel
Week Ending: December 4, 1998
1) COMMENTARY ON WYE AGREEMENT BREAKDOWN
2) EUROPEAN UNION AID USED TO HOUSE ARAFAT'S ELITE SUPPORTERS
3) US PLEDGES HALF-BILLION DOLLARS FOR PA
4) ARAFAT RENEWS CALLS FOR PALESTINIAN STATE
5) ARAB MK CALLS FOR PALESTINIAN STATE IN PLACE OF ISRAEL
6) ABU ALLAH: "FIGHT THE 'SETTLERS' BY ALL MEANS AVAILABLE"
7) WATER REDUCTIONS
8) PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU BLASTS ANTISEMITISM IN RUSSIA
1) COMMENTARY ON BREAKDOWN OF WYE AGREEMENT
For over a week, there have been violent demonstrations in
various Palestinian Authority-controlled communities against the government of
Israel. After Israel released hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, and
is due to release more, the Palestinians were rioting because they
wanted more prisoners to be released sooner and more of them to be
political prisoners.
Israel has affirmed that she will not release Palestinians who "have
Jewish blood on their hands," and told the Palestinians to stop asking
for the release of murderers. This incited them all the more, as they
want their terrorists and Hamas activists released.
Then, on Wednesday afternoon (Dec. 2) in a savage, well-planned
and filmed attack in Ramallah (just north of Jerusalem), two Israelis were
nearly lynched by a Palestinian mob. The films sent shockwaves
through the Jewish community, and Israel Prime Minister, Binyamin
Netanyahu called a halt to any further withdrawals unless the
Palestinians stop the violence and incitement.
The government called for compliance to the Wye accords and
demanded of the Palestinian leadership the following:
a) The Palestinian Authority will unequivocally announce that it
is bound by the agreement reached at the Wye River, according to
which only prisoners with no blood on their hands and those who are not
members of Hamas will be released.
b) That the PA clarify that is it abandoning its intention to
unilaterally declare a Palestinian state and will announce its
commitment to continuous negotiations until a final status agreement
is reached. (Almost daily, Yasser Arafat makes public statements about
his intentions to unilaterally declare a sovereign Palestinian state
with its capital in Jerusalem as of May 4, 1999.)
c) That the PA will immediately stop incitement and violence and
punish the rioters.
Netanyahu said that Israel views the PA as responsible for the
repeated violations of the Wye agreement, "The PA encourages violence
like the brutal attack today in Ramallah in an effort to exert
pressure on Israel on the issue of the prisoner release."
Meanwhile, the US government, planning a trip to the region by
President Bill Clinton next week, rejected Israel's demand stating,
"We do not believe it is appropriate to add new conditions to the
implementation of this agreement," so says State Department spokesman,
James Rubin.
New conditions? All that Israel is asking for is that the PA
stick to what they agreed to: affirm ongoing negotiations, stop the violence,
and stop incitement. There is nothing new about the demands as they
are only restating the agreement that the PA refuses to comply with.
Israel has already released some prisoners and moved out of more
territory. All she has received is more riots and violence, incitement
and calls for a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state by
Arafat - all of which violate the Wye River Agreement.
In the midst of all of this violence, Yasser Arafat was visiting
Bill Clinton and collected $500,000,000 in US aid. The day he was getting
this pledge from the US, it was reported that tens of millions of
European aid money was diverted to build luxury apartments for
Arafat's cronies.
Listening to the US State Department and the media, one gets the
impression that the world is upside down, that right is called wrong,
and that bad is called good. For some reason Palestinian
non-compliance does not seem to bother anyone and the attitude towards
the Palestinians is, "So, what do you expect." Something is very
wrong about all of this. (Clarence H. Wagner, Jr., International
Director, Bridges for Peace)
2) EUROPEAN UNION AID USED TO HOUSE ARAFAT'S ELITE SUPPORTERS
Millions of dollars in aid contributed by European countries on
behalf of cheap housing for the poor in the Gaza Strip have been used for
rich supporters of Yasser Arafat. The London Sunday Times reported
that the housing project was part of a 60-million sterling aid package
for the Palestinians, administered by the Palestinian housing
authority. European Union auditors admitted that some $20 million was
spent without any economic controls, and is not recoverable. Ten
apartment blocks, designed with "elegance and luxury," according to
the paper's sources, were built opposite the Nussairat refugee camp in
Gaza. Each apartment is more than 100 square meters (about 1,000 sq.
feet) in size, with three bedrooms, a kitchen fitted with polished
wooden cupboards and granite work-surfaces, and a bathroom complete
with a large bath and shower area, decorated with either pink or blue
ceramic tiles. "Satellite television dishes sprout from the walls,
and the car parks are tightly packed with military vehicles and
[officials'] expensive civilian cars."
Palestinian sources told the Times that three of the apartments
have been taken over by a Palestinian general, another was taken by police
chief Tala Abu Zaidi, and that the Palestinian Ministry of Industry
also controls two flats.
Building costs rose by 80% more than planned, due to split-level
construction, entry phone systems and expensive lifts (elevators),
making them "inaccessible to the layer of population for which they
were planned and has instead allowed well-to-do people to benefit from
European Union aid," said the auditors. Officials in the Palestinian
housing authority refused to meet the EU auditors.
Compounding the scandal, some of these affluent beneficiaries
made low down-payments, and many are not keeping up their mortgage payments.
"The degree of repayment of the loans on the part of the buyers in the
Gaza Strip is zero," said the auditors. Auditors of the Palestinian
Authority recently found that nearly 40% of Arafat's administration's
budget was misused or stolen through "kickbacks." (Arutz 7, November
30, 1998)
3) US PLEDGES HALF-BILLION DOLLARS FOR PA
Setting the stage for a visit next month to the PLO Authority
(PA) autonomous area in Gaza, President Clinton welcomed PA Chief Yasser
Arafat at the White House and pledged to seek congressional approval
for a new $500 million aid package.
Clinton, who opened a fund-raising conference for the PA with the
aid announcement, urged other nations to contribute as well to sustain the
fragile peace process.
"Today, our purpose is to send a clear signal that this peace is
more than a piece of paper, that the promise imagined at Oslo can become a
concrete reality; a true peace, a growing peace, good for
Palestinians, good for Israelis, good for the region and the world,''
Clinton said.
Arafat told representatives from 45 nations that their assistance
was crucial for helping the PA develop a state.
Arafat said it was equally important for Israel to stop hampering
commerce with frequent closures of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, a step
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu takes whenever there is a terrorist
attack or a security crisis.
"The Israeli closure policy is the primary and direct cause for
the dangerous decline in the performance of the Palestinian economy over
the past five years,'' Arafat said. "This policy has given a heavy and
severe blow to our efforts to deal with the problems inherited from
the 30-year-long occupation, and to our recent plans to reconstruct
and develop Palestine.''
Arafat said nevertheless, he would continue cooperating with
Israeli and US intelligence agencies and security forces to limit attacks on
Israel from territory under PA control.
The conference, aimed at stimulating Palestinian economic growth,
follows on a similar effort in 1993 that generated some $2.1 billion,
but which Clinton said fell short of expectations.
"There has been too little tangible improvement in the lives of
the Palestinian people,'' Clinton said. "Palestinians have a right to the
same things all people aspire to.''
The United States pledged $500 million over five years during the
previous conference in 1993, $375 million in cash assistance and $125
million in loan guarantees through the Overseas Private Investment
Corp. US officials said the new $500 million package represents an
increase in aid since it will be spread over only two years.
Clinton and Arafat, who conferred in the Oval Office, will meet
again in two weeks' time when Clinton visits the Gaza Strip to preside over
a meeting in which the PA leadership will formally nullify portions of
the PLO charter that calls for the destruction of Israel as a Jewish
state.
Clinton said Arafat had reviewed the progress made by both Israel
and the PA since the signing, and that Arafat had "reaffirmed his pledge
to uphold his side of the agreement, and to work with Israeli
authorities to promote Israel's security.''
"No peace stands a chance of lasting if it does not deliver real
results to ordinary people,'' the president said. "Both sides have
made sacrifices to get where we are, including at the recent Wye
summit. Both have taken steps since then to keep the process moving
forward. There have been bumps in the road, to be sure, but the
agreement is on track, and we must keep it on track.'' (UPI)
(IsraelWire, December 1, 1998)
4) ARAFAT RENEWS CALLS FOR PALESTINIAN STATE
Arriving in the United States one day prior to the opening of the
US-sponsored donor conference, Yasser Arafat once again renewed his
calls for the establishment of a Palestinian State. The planed
announcement is to coincide with the end of the interim period of the
Oslo process, which will take place on May 4th, 1999.
Arafat also expressed his intention to make the unilateral
declaration despite Israeli objections to such a move, indicating that East
Jerusalem will become the capital of the state.
The PLO Authority (PA) leader did acknowledge that Israel may
maintain control over western portions of Jerusalem, which may continue serving
as the capital of the Jewish state.
Arafat explained that the areas of eastern Jerusalem have been
"occupied" by Israel since the June 1967 Six Day War. In compliance
with the Madrid Conference and United Nations Resolution 242, Israel
was compelled to retreat from those areas, which are destined to
become the capital of Palestine he added.
Arafat added that he did not want to construct a Berlin Wall,
adding that the two capitals must exist in peace side by side. He called for
a dual existence between the two nations following the declaration of
Palestinian statehood.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has expressed Israel's
objection to any unilateral PA move, adding that it may prompt Israel to annex
areas throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza under Israeli control. The
Prime Minister has also stated a unilateral PA declaration would mark
the end of the Oslo process as we know it.
Israel has been working to enlist support of the United States,
Britain and the European Union to reject the PA plan to unilaterally
declare statehood. (IsraelWire, November 30, 1998)
5) ARAB MK CALLS FOR PALESTINIAN STATE IN PLACE OF ISRAEL
Israeli Knesset Member (MK), Abdel Wahab Darawshe (Arab
Democratic Party), has called publicly for a Palestinian state on both sides of
the Green Line (pre-1967 border). Speaking on Palestinian Television
in honor of the dedication of the new Palestinian airport last week,
Darawshe said that he hopes to participate in the declaration ceremony
of a Palestinian state that will be established on "all of the
Palestinian land." Speaking "for the Palestinian nation that is
within Israel," he said, "I hope that we will all live as brothers in
one Palestinian state."
MK Alex Lubotsky (Third Way), a member of the Knesset Law
Committee, responded by saying, "It appears that Darawshe, with this statement,
has forfeited his right to sit in the Knesset, in light of his
apparent refusal to recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish state.
It is astonishing that a Knesset Member in Israel would take such a
view, one that other Israeli-Arabs have long abandoned."
The quote by Darawshe was circulated by the Palestinian Media
Watch, under the direction of Itamar Marcus. The organization published a
paper entitled, "The Dual National Identity of Israeli Arabs: Their
Palestinian vs. their Israeli Identities." The study presents recent
comments made by Israeli Arab figures in the official Palestinian
media. Excerpts from the report follow.
* "With the help of Allah, when the independent Palestinian state is
already established on the entirety of the Palestinian land... we will
all live as brothers and one family in one Palestinian state." (MK
Abdel Darwashe, in an interview with official PA television, Nov. 26,
1998)
* "We were the first who came from 'the inside', from 1948 Palestine,
or 'Israel' as it is called today..." (MK Abdel Malek Dahamsha,
describing his flight to the new Palestinian airport in Gaza on Nov.
26, 1998)
* "We are striving for unity... this is a Palestinian need, and
regarding [the term] "Green Line," we say that they [Israel] are
trying to separate us into 'Arabs of 1948' and 'Arabs of 1967,'...
but we will remain the children of one Palestinian nation." ( MK Taleb
Alsana in an interview on PA television, July 3, 1998)
* "It is not that we support the Palestinian nation on the topic of
Jerusalem - the topic of Jerusalem is our interest!! We are an
inseparable part of the Palestinian nation, therefore the concern
[over Jerusalem] is a joint concern and hope....To our great distress,
there is a Jewish consensus on Jerusalem that it is the eternal Jewish
capital. But we reject this and say that Jerusalem is the capital of
the independent Palestinian state, the capital of our nation." (MK
Abdel Darawshe, July 3, 1998)
* "We will die and not leave, we will kill, we will be killed, but we
will not leave." (MK Darawshe, describing how Israeli Arabs should
relate to the policies of the Israeli government, July 3, 1998)
* "... [the IDF] is not a defense force, but a conquering army of our
Palestinian nation." (MK Alsana, calling on Israeli Bedouins not to
agree to be drafted into the IDF, July 3, 1998)
* "...the identity of the Palestinian nation within the Green line is
Arab and Palestinian in character, but because of our geographic
location, we are considered residents of Israel and we hold its
[national] ID card. We are proud of our Palestinian identity and our
connection with it." (Darawshe Rabi, candidate for Jaljulia Town
Council head, quoted in Al Hayat Al-Jadida, November 5, 1998) (Arutz
7, December 1, 1998)
6) ABU ALLAH: "FIGHT THE 'SETTLERS' BY ALL MEANS AVAILABLE"
Senior officials in the Palestinian Authority (PA,) on November
30, called to engage "settlers" (Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria)
that are involved in continued building of their communities and new
roads. Abu Allah, the head of the PA legislative body, said: "We will
combat the settlers and the settlements with all means at our disposal. From
today on, the entire PA legislative body has to become an organ to
combat settlements."
Some of the elected PA officials addressed a special session of
the council in Ramallah. They said, "the only way to stop the Israeli
settlers from ruling our Palestinian land was popular resistance to
the bulldozers." (IsraelWire, December 1, 1998)
7) WATER REDUCTIONS
Israel's national water company, Mekorot, is reducing the amount
of water that it draws from the Sea of Galilee (Kineret), in light of the
current drought. It was decided to pump only 15 million cubic meters
of water in December, compared to twice that amount in the outgoing
month. The sea stands only 47 centimeters above the "red line," and it
is short 600 million cubic meters of water.
This November was the hottest here in the last 35 years. It is
also one of the driest Novembers on record with less than 10 cms. (4
inches) precipitation in most regions, which is less than 20 percent
of the normal average.
Leading figures in Israel's water industry will meet next week in
an emergency session to discuss the current drought. Agriculture
Minister Rafael Eitan, who initiated the meeting, said, "Tough
decisions must be made." He reiterated his demand that the government
approve the construction of desalination facilities. Wheat raisers
announced today that they have begun to artificially irrigate their
fields, which will make their industry practically non-profitable.
The weatherman says that rain is still not expected at least until
next week. (Arutz 7, December 3,1998)
8) PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU BLASTS ANTI-SEMITISM IN RUSSIA
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke out strongly about
growing anti-Semitism in Russia, saying that the problem was greater for
Russia than for the Jews.
"The problem of anti-Semitism can be addressed as long as we have
a Jewish land and a Jewish state," said Netanyahu at a press conference
in London. "We can take in all the Jews in distress."
He added: "The problem of anti-Semitism, is that it is the virus
of bigotry and violence, an internal implosion that effects all the
societies that are affected by this virus. It starts with the hatred
of Jews, it never ends there. It effects all the other aspects of
hate, xenophobia, bigotry, hatred of minorities, disavowal of human
rights." (Danna Harman Jerusalem Post, November 27, 1998)
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different aid projects to help the people of Israel, while
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